Lucky Girls

I am a lucky girl.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not delusional or trying to paint the picture that being a stay-at-home mom is a piece of cake or wonderful every minute of every day.

It's hard.

But if I was going to work full-time, that would be hard too.

At least I have sweet moments like these to break up my day:

Miriam and Eliza are also such lucky girls.

Lucky to have such a wonderful, caring, playful, attentive and loving father.

I hope someday they realize how lucky they are.

For Father's Day, we tried to make it special for Daddy.

We brought him breakfast in bed.

The girls left their prints on a special book for him.

He also got to sleep in, take a nap and have some homemade coleslaw (something that never happens).

Not only am I lucky to have such wonderful daughters, but I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and father to my daughters.  

Is it any wonder that they cling to him?

Although maybe it's not lucky.  Let's give credit where credit is due.  I thank the Lord for bringing Stan (literally) into my life.

We love you!

Picking Blueberries

Miriam is an early-riser.  6 a.m., on the dot.  There is nothing (that I know of) to do about it.  We have tried putting her to bed later.  Up at 6:00.  No nap, still up at 6:00.  Nap and regular bedtime, still up at 6:00.

I am trying to come to terms with this routine.  Meanwhile, Stan is my saving grace and almost always gets up with our early bird.

So on Saturday morning when she had the whole house awake at 6:00, we decided this would be a good time to beat the heat and head out to the local blueberry farm.

Miriam helped, for a little while.  Then she found another little boy to run up and down the aisles with.

Eliza slept for a little while, and then woke and munched on her puffs in the stroller.

 

I must say, although blueberries are tiny and take awhile to fill the whole bucket, I much prefer picking them to strawberries, raspberries or blackberries.  They are on a tall bush (so you don't have to bend over the whole time like strawberries) and have no thorns.  I'm a fan.

The farm was about 30 minutes from home, so we did some other errands while we were out and had lunch at Red Robin.

It was fun to spend the Saturday morning doing things together as a family.  Although taking all of us out to go somewhere is a lot of work, it makes the best memories!

Family Campout

Camping.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

That statement couldn't be more true of our camping trip.

The past several years we have had an annual Hornberger camp out at the lake.  It has usually been in June and blazing hot.

This year we decided to go earlier so it wouldn't be quite as miserable.

So even though the entire month of May has felt like summer, Thursday night (our first night out) the temperature dropped to 47 degrees. 

Now if you're planning on winter camping, that's fine.  But this was supposed to be summer camping.  We had checked the weather and brought some warm things, but probably not enough.  It was so COLD!

Friday morning the temperature was in the 60s, nice for walking around, but not swimming. 

So the husbands took the kids on a walk to feed fish at the marina and play at the playground.  The wives went home (about 30 minutes away) to gather more blankets and warm gear.

(Miriam loves playing with Braden, I asked her later who her favorite cousin was and she said it was him)

And my sister and sister-in-law were nice enough to stop by and pick up a birthday cake for me on their way back.  Lemon filled, it was yummy!

Later that afternoon, the sun peeked out and it felt warmer, so we packed everyone up and headed down to the lake.

I just love this chubby girl!

Eliza loved the sand.  I really had to watch her though because she kept putting everything in her mouth.

Stan and Rebecca weren't brave enough to get in the water as the clouds had rolled back in and the breeze picked up.

 Miriam enjoyed herself, though was scared of the waves.

 After Miriam started shivering and turned purple we quickly got out of the water and tried to get warm.  I'm not sure how my Canadian relatives can stand swimming in the cool weather.

Rebecca and I sent the kids back to camp with the hubbies and she and I went on the boat for a ski.  I didn't bring the camera, but the clouds had rolled in more and it started raining.  But that didn't stop us.  We both skied and I took a turn on the wake board.



Back at camp we enjoyed yummy camp food of hot dogs and brats.  My brother was even nice enough to give me some of his delicious steak since it was my birthday.


Miriam enjoying her s'more.

I haven't yet mentioned some of the difficulties of getting the girls to sleep.  To simplify, let's just say that Miriam, although completely exhausted both nights, did NOT want to lay down and go to sleep.  This resorted in several tantrums, locking her in her car seat in the van, and eventually Stan taking her for a 30 minute drive until she fell asleep.  To top it off, Friday night, Eliza wasn't feeling well (teething, earache? Who knows??)  She woke almost every hour through the night, one of those times waking the entire campground at 2:00 a.m.

But we made it and thankfully Stan let me sleep late the next morning to try and catch up on some sleep.

Saturday was back to typical summer weather so we headed down to the beach for a more enjoyable time.

Cousin Brooke joined us this time.

Stan and I took Miriam for a ride on the boat.  

She had a good time and thankfully wasn't scared.  

She also enjoyed sitting next to her cousin Lydia, who is 6 months older than Miriam.  It's fun because their age gap is not as noticeable now and they are starting to play together more.

 

Thanks to my awesome brother Jared for taking us all out on his boat.

Stan and I both took a turn on the wake board. 

I had a blast being on the water again, not having been out for two years since I was pregnant last summer.  It all came back to me.  Of course with the fun comes the very sore muscles afterwards!

I actually caught a little air the last time!

 And Stan took a turn on the skis as well.

Worst of times:

Cold nights

Cranky baby and toddler

Too cold to swim weather

Unpacking ALL that stuff (we're still not done)

Best of times:

Spending time with family

Happy baby and toddler

Nice warm beach weather

Water skiing and wake boarding

Yummy camp food

No bugs (because of the cold weather)

We'll do it again next year!